Alan Parker

From his humble beginnings as an office boy at age 19, Alan Parker worked his way up in the advertising business and began his career in earnest when he and partner Alan Marshall founded a production...
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20th Century Fox via Everett Collection
50 years ago today -- March 2, 1965 -- The Sound of Music hit theaters in the United States. In honor of the iconic film's anniversary, we take a look behind the scenes of one of our favorite movies to share some things you may not have known.
1. While singing "I Have Confidence," Julie Andrews accidentally tripped in the Von Trapp courtyard.
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Director Robert Wise felt it added a much needed nervousness to the song and the character, so he decided to use it in the film.
2. Julie Andrews sang "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" to the Von Trapp children between filming.
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Since Mary Poppins hadn't been released yet, the kids all thought she made it up just for them.
3. Maria never uses the Captain's first name, Georg.
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She calls him only Captain, Sir, or Darling.
4. Christopher Plummer traveled to the Salzburg mountains to meet Captain's nephew and learn more about the character.
Since very little information was available about Captain Von Trapp for Plummer, he and his interpreter met with Captain's nephew to learn a bit about him. The nephew described the real man as the most boring man he'd ever met.
5. The day after the von Trapp family escaped Austria, Hitler ordered the borders shut.
6. They also took a train station to Italy and safety; they didn't hike over a mountain.
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Salzburg is much closer to Austria's border with Germany, and neither Italy nor Switzerland are within walking distance.
7. If they had hiked over a mountain, they'd find themselves near Hitler's mountain retreat in Germany.
8. Charmian Carr (Liesl) has admitted she was attracted to Christopher Plummer, who played her father.
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Despite the 13 year age difference, Plummer admits that the feeling was mutual. He insists it never evolved beyond flirtation.
9. Director Robert Wise didn't get along with the real Maria von Trapp when she came to the set.
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He called her "bossy."
10. In the original play, ideological differences drive the Captain and the Baroness apart.
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She wouldn't stand up to the Nazis, and he refused to compromise with them.
11. Grace Kelly had been considered for the part of the Baroness, but was a bit too busy, you know, being a princess.
12. The gazebo scene with Maria and the Captain was made a silhouette to hide the uncontrollable laughter of Julie Andrews.
20th Century Fox via Everett Collection
According to Andrews, a lighting device kept making a certain "raspberry" noise every time she leaned in to kiss Plummer. After more than 20 takes, the scene was changed to a silhouette to make her laughter less noticeable.
13. The real Von Trapp children weren't pleased with how stern their father was portrayed.
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Maria Von Trapp had asked Wise to soften the character a bit, but the director refused.
14. Kurt's high note in "So Long, Farewell" is actually sung by Liesl's real life younger sister.
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The note was out of Duane Chase's range, so Charmian Carr's sister, Darlene, sang it instead.
15. Mia Farrow auditioned for the role of Liesl.
Liza Minnelli and Sharon Tate were also among those who tested for the part.
16. Christopher Plummer admits he was drunk when they filmed the music festival sequence.
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17. The movie is one of only four films to win both the Tony Award for Best Musical/Play and the Oscar for Best Picture.
The others are My Fair Lady, A Man For All Seasons, and Amadeus.
18. Charmian Carr (Liesl) danced through "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" on an injured ankle.
During the first take of this scene, Carr slipped while leaping from a bench and fell through glass. She wasn't badly hurt, but her ankle was injured and needed to be wrapped for the scene.
19. Even though nobody had seen how she would perform on screen yet, Julie Andrews was always director Robert Wise's first choice.
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20. Yet she almost turned down the part, fearing it was too similar to Mary Poppins.
21. The actress who played Marta, Debbie Turner, kept losing teeth during filming.
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They had to be replaced with false teeth.
22. The children kept growing during filming, so lots of heel lifts and camera tricks were needed for height continuity.
Louisa (Heather Menzies-Urich) started production three inches taller than Friedrich (Nicholas Hammond); he had to wear lifts. By the end of filming, he'd grown six inches. Liesl (Charmian Carr) had to stand on a box while Friedrich didn't wear shoes to help keep their heights consistent.
23. Nicholas Hammond had to endure a bunch of painful bleachings to turn brown hair blond for the film.
24. Christopher Plummer disliked filming so very much that he referred to the movie as "The Sound of Mucus."
25. Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, and Veronica Cartwright were among those who auditioned for roles as von Trapp children.
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As did the four oldest Osmond brothers: Alan, Jay, Merrill, and Wayne.
26. The gazebo's interior scenes were shot in Los Angeles.
The inside of the actual gazebo was too small to accommodate the dance numbers.
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27. The gazebo can still be seen in Salzburg, but only from the outside.
Visitors were too frequently attempting to dance along the benches and injuring themselves, so the interior is now off limits.
28. Julie Andrews learned to play guitar specifically for this role.
29. Christopher Plummer also learned to play guitar for the role...but his playing was dubbed.
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30. Christopher Plummer asked for "Edelweiss" to be replaced.
He thought the song was trite and "schmaltzy" and asked for it to be written out. Screenwriter Ernest Lehman refused.
31. There was nobody at the altar to officiate the wedding during filming because someone forgot to wake the actor.
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32. Julie Andrews has also claimed that the actual bishop of Salzburg can be spotted in the wedding scene.
33. It's not really Kym Karath (Gretl) on Captain's shoulders in the final shot as they climb the mountains to safety.
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Karath had gained a bit of weight while filming in Austria, and evidently Christopher Plummer found her too heavy to carry on his back. He requested a stunt double.
34. Which is funny, since Plummer's weight gain required his costumes to be refitted for his extra mass.
He admitted he ate and drank in Austria in order to better cope with the unhappiness he felt from filming.
35. The movie features a rare onscreen performance by famed ghost singer Marni Nixon.
She played Sister Sophia. Nixon, who had previously done the vocals for Natalie Wood in West Side Story, Deborah Kerr in The King and I, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Since Julie Andrews played Eliza Doolittle in the Broadway version but was passed over in favor of Hepburn for the film, producers were nervous to learn how she would react to Nixon's casting. Andrews approached her and exclaimed, "Marni, I'm a fan of you!"
36. Christopher Plummer has said working with Julie Andrews is like "being hit over the head with a big Valentine's Day card."
37. Julie Andrews kept getting knocked over from the helicopter's wind.
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Though that iconic spin looks warm and sunny, Andrews only remembers how cold she was as she repeatedly ran across the mountain with the ferocious winds of the chopper above. She tried digging her feet into the ground without luck.
38. Director Robert Wise climbed a nearby tree in order to film that first musical number; he wanted to be able to watch the helicopter filming without getting in the shot himself.
39. Sean Connery and Richard Burton were both considered to play Captain.
40. The real Maria von Trapp makes a cameo.
In the "I Have Confidence" scene, as Julie Andrews walks beneath a brick archway, the real Maria can be seen behind her, dressed as a peasant.
41. Heinrich Himmler, famed Nazi, took over the von Trapp house after they escaped. Adolf Hitler visited him there more than once.
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42. Kym Karath (Gretl) couldn't swim, so Julie Andrews was responsible for catching her when they fall out of the boat and into the water.
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On the second take, the boat tipped in a way that sent Andrews flying one way and Karath falling out the other side. Heather Menzies-Urich (Louisa) was tasked with saving her instead, which Andrews was haunted by.
43. Subsequently, Karath threw up all over Menzies-Urich after swallowing too much water.
44. The cast had to be continually hosed down in order to maintain a soaking wet look after falling into the water.
45. Liesl may have been 16 going on 17, but she was actually older than Rolfe.
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Charmian Carr was 22 at the time she sang that song; Daniel Truhitte, who played Rolfe, is ten months younger than she is. Now who's older and wiser?
46. Shirley Jones, Anne Bancroft, and Doris Day were all considered for the part of Maria.
47. Robert Wise initially turned down the opportunity to direct the picture.
Stanley Donen, Vincent Donohue, Gene Kelly, and George Roy Hill were also approached and said no.
48. Mary Martin, wife of the producer of the original Broadway show and the first woman to play Maria made nearly $8,000,000 from the film.
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While Julie Andrews earned just $225,000.
49. According to British tabloid The Sun, it's one of the films chosen to show after a nuclear strike to improve morale.
Though this is unconfirmed by the BBC who declared it a security issue.
50. Peggy Wood (Mother Abbess) had a hard time lip-syncing along to "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."
She struggled to perfectly match the first word of the song, so director Robert Wise had her face away from camera when she began singing. When she looked at camera, she had caught up with the song enough to perfectly pass. The effect of her staring out the window in the beginning added a mystical element to the song and fit in better than originally planned.

Scottish actor Alan Cumming celebrated his 50th birthday by throwing a party in New York City themed around legendary nightclub Studio 54. The Good Wife star marked the milestone on Tuesday (27Jan15) by hosting a lavish bash at EZ Studios in the Big Apple for star guests including actresses Susan Sarandon, Gina Gershon and Parker Posey.
Attendees were instructed to dress in "disco attire" for the Studio 54-themed bash, according to New York Post gossip column Page Six.
Cumming shared a snap of the party in a post on his Twitter.com page along with the caption, "This is what fifty looks like!"
In the picture, Cumming is seen raising a glass while wearing nothing but a pair of skimpy red underpants, gold chains and a sweat band as he is held in the air by other party-goers under the light of a disco ball.

Hugh Jackman, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kelly Osbourne were among the stars who mourned the death of legendary comedienne Joan Rivers at her funeral in New York on Sunday (07Sep14). Record mogul Clive Davis, actors Matthew Broderick, Rosie O'Donnell, Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth and Bernadette Peters, funnywoman Kathy Griffin, fashion designers Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera and Michael Kors, property mogul Donald Trump and newswomen Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer also turned out to pay their final respects to Rivers, who was remembered in a private ceremony at the Temple Emanu-El synagogue, where she was a member.
Hundreds of fans lined the streets outside the temple as inside, U.S. shockjock Howard Stern delivered a touching eulogy to the comedic icon, crediting her with fighting "the stereotype that women couldn't be funny".
He even managed to raise a few laughs from guests by quipping, "(Rivers was) the best friend in the world... a big sister... a crazy aunt at a bar mitzvah."
Broadway star Audra McDonald performed Nat King Cole classic Smile, before additional tributes from news anchor Deborah Norville, New York Post columnist Cindy Adams and Rivers' only child, daughter Melissa, who thanked everyone for their condolences, saying, "We are humbled."
X-Men star Hugh Jackman helped to bring the ceremony to a close, honouring Rivers' memory with a rendition of Peter Allen song, Quiet Please, There's a Lady on Stage, which features the repeated lyrics, "Put your hands together", while a band of bagpipe players performed as mourners filed out of the temple.
Rivers died on Thursday (04Sep14), a week after suffering a cardiac and respiratory arrest during a routine throat operation.
The exact cause of death is still under investigation after an initial autopsy proved inconclusive.
The 81 year old's body had been cremated on Saturday (06Sep14), ahead of Sunday's funeral service.
Reports suggest she will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California, where fellow late icons Michael Jackson, Clark Gable and Walt Disney are also interred.
Rivers' publicist has asked for donations to be made to her favourite charities, meal delivery service God's Love, We Deliver, Guide Dogs for the Blind and California grief support centre Our House, in lieu of flowers.

Lions Gate via Everett Collection
When we last left our heroes, they had conquered all opponents in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, returned home to their newly refurbished living quarters in District 12, and fallen haplessly to the cannibalism of PTSD. And now we're back! Hitching our wagons once again to laconic Katniss Everdeen and her sweet-natured, just-for-the-camera boyfriend Peeta Mellark as they gear up for a second go at the Capitol's killing fields.
But hold your horses — there's a good hour and a half before we step back into the arena. However, the time spent with Katniss and Peeta before the announcement that they'll be competing again for the ceremonial Quarter Quell does not drag. In fact, it's got some of the film franchise's most interesting commentary about celebrity, reality television, and the media so far, well outweighing the merit of The Hunger Games' satire on the subject matter by having Katniss struggle with her responsibilities as Panem's idol. Does she abide by the command of status quo, delighting in the public's applause for her and keeping them complacently saturated with her smiles and curtsies? Or does Katniss hold three fingers high in opposition to the machine into which she has been thrown? It's a quarrel that the real Jennifer Lawrence would handle with a castigation of the media and a joke about sandwiches, or something... but her stakes are, admittedly, much lower. Harvey Weinstein isn't threatening to kill her secret boyfriend.
Through this chapter, Katniss also grapples with a more personal warfare: her devotion to Gale (despite her inability to commit to the idea of love) and her family, her complicated, moralistic affection for Peeta, her remorse over losing Rue, and her agonizing desire to flee the eye of the public and the Capitol. Oftentimes, Katniss' depression and guilty conscience transcends the bounds of sappy. Her soap opera scenes with a soot-covered Gale really push the limits, saved if only by the undeniable grace and charisma of star Lawrence at every step along the way of this film. So it's sappy, but never too sappy.
In fact, Catching Fire is a masterpiece of pushing limits as far as they'll extend before the point of diminishing returns. Director Francis Lawrence maintains an ambiance that lends to emotional investment but never imposes too much realism as to drip into territories of grit. All of Catching Fire lives in a dreamlike state, a stark contrast to Hunger Games' guttural, grimacing quality that robbed it of the life force Suzanne Collins pumped into her first novel.
Once we get to the thunderdome, our engines are effectively revved for the "fun part." Katniss, Peeta, and their array of allies and enemies traverse a nightmare course that seems perfectly suited for a videogame spin-off. At this point, we've spent just enough time with the secondary characters to grow a bit fond of them — deliberately obnoxious Finnick, jarringly provocative Johanna, offbeat geeks Beedee and Wiress — but not quite enough to dissolve the mystery surrounding any of them or their true intentions (which become more and more enigmatic as the film progresses). We only need adhere to Katniss and Peeta once tossed in the pit of doom that is the 75th Hunger Games arena, but finding real characters in the other tributes makes for a far more fun round of extreme manhunt.
But Catching Fire doesn't vie for anything particularly grand. It entertains and engages, having fun with and anchoring weight to its characters and circumstances, but stays within the expected confines of what a Hunger Games movie can be. It's a good one, but without shooting for succinctly interesting or surprising work with Katniss and her relationships or taking a stab at anything but the obvious in terms of sending up the militant tyrannical autocracy, it never even closes in on the possibility of being a great one.
3.5/5
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Considering how much Cameron Mackintosh has on his plate at any given moment, it's not surprising that it took the British mega-producer over 25 years to bring his time-honored classic musical Les Misérables to the big screen. For anyone who thinks they're busy, here's what is currently on Mackintosh's to do list: finalize the casting and design of the new version of Barnum; see rehearsals in Japan for a new version of Les Mis; finalize casting of the new version of Les Misérables in Toronto; audition for a production of Les Mis in Australia; oversee two versions of Mary Poppins on opposite ends of the Earth; prep the new and improved staging of Phantom of the Opera coming to Broadway; and help produce new productions of Oliver! being mounted in Korea and America.
"Plus, there are several new things in the works... I'm sure I've forgotten something," he says. Mackintosh is involved with every aspect of his productions — a reason why they're executed across the globe with masterful precision. He attributes that care to the success over the course of his career (the 2011 Sunday Times Rich List estimated his value at $1.1 billion). Shifting some meetings around to promote the Blu-ray release of his 2012 Oscar-nominated hit Les Misérables, we talked with Mackintosh on realizing the classic musical, what prevented it from happening 25 years ago, and when we'll see movie versions of his other popular properties (how is Miss Saigon not a movie yet?).
Clearly you're a busy man. How do you find time make a movie out of Les Misérables?
Cameron Mackintosh: It was quite a strain. An enjoyable one, but as I'm sure you know, with the film industry, it's not until they press the green button that everyone wants you to drop everything. Whereas what I do in the theater, because I'm so lucky to have many classic musicals, I'm two, three, sometimes even four years out planning how I'm going to put them on around the world. So it was a real strain over the last 18 months. I was on the set all the time. I didn't expect to be.
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It came together quickly after years of being a possibility.
Mackintosh: The was that moment 25 years ago and the show opened on Broadway and we were going to do it. After five years, after Alan Parker [Midnight Express, Fame] couldn't wait any longer to make it, we didn't really find anyone else that I was happy with. There were sporadic calls over the years, but nothing really serious until Eric Fellner at Working Title [production company behind Les Misérables... said, 'Look, I'd like to have a serious talk with you.'
Why was this the moment when it finally took off?
Mackintosh:To be honest, it's really the fact that over the last five to eight years, people's acceptance of the musical form as widened. It's not an uncool thing for people to see musicals [laughs]. Whereas when I was starting 25 - 30 years ago, my friends didn't know if musical theater was something they wanted to see. Live music is generally something people want to go to now. The money is in live appearance. You have now an unheard of amount of pop theater music is played on prime time. It's on television, on the radio — people really embrace it.
So Glee, against all odds, has helped the world in some way.
Mackintosh: Yes, Glee, and Baz Luhrmann with Moulin Rouge. Evita happened. The huge success of Chicago. Indeed, Glee and Sweeney Todd and Mama Mia. All of these things have been growing and growing, and a couple of them have made serious money. The idea of a musical was no longer a, 'Oh, my dear. Nice idea, but no thanks.' I think we've hit the right moment. It also happened to be a practical right moment because it's a very first time a director approached me. At the time Tom Hooper came to see me, The King's Speech was still doing the rounds at film festivals. It hadn't gone into the cinemas. It hadn't gone from The King's Speech to The King's Speech. He just went to see the show, he had never seen it before. He thought it could be a really interesting movie. He had a point of view about it.
Of course, the cast we've been able to pull together. Most of them come or have some connection to musical theater. Most of them weren't born when I did the show originally! So we've literally grown the cast through the lifetime of the show. I don't honestly think, because I never got that far the first time around, that we would have been able to cast the film to the same extent. At that point we didn't envision it as a sung-through musical. Every studio we talked to went, 'No, you can have a lot of music, but we'd expect it to be a third spoken dialogue.' And unless we thought it was a problem, we were to go on with it.
Even with the first draft of Bill Nicholson's draft, there was a lot of dialogue in it. It was Tom Hooper who, as we started to go through it, said, 'I want to take all the marvelous stuff Bill has come up with and put more in. But I want it to be done and turned into the form that had been done for the stage show.' We pulled the stage show apart and used it as a bible to remake it as a movie, rather than just film the stage show. So we all sat around the piano and sang all the parts with Tom. We were far more brutal than Tom was. He started off thinking we'd be protective of our majorly successful baby, but we know she's a robust girl like Cosette!
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Was there a specific moment of the show that you knew would be a challenge in the movie version?
Mackintosh:Having had the temerity with the fans to remake one of the most popular musicals ever, I knew as long as we did something they liked, delivered the same emotional impact as the original, they would relish the changes. When it came to the screen that there would be certain things. For instance, "One Day More," which is probably one of the greatest, theatrical End-of-Act-1 numbers ever written, all takes place in one place in a black box. You can not to do that. You cannot have marching peasants marching towards the audience. It would be ludicrous. That was a very hard piece for Melanie [Oliver, Editor] to cut and Tom to put together. Piece by piece... as we put it together, we realized we needed shots here, shots there, in order for it to have the drive in a cinematic way like it does on stage.
NEXT: Mackintosh Updates Us on 'Miss Saigon,' 'My Fair Lady' Movies
Was there something you thought of cutting that Tom insisted should stay?
Mackintosh:The only number that went was a number we always thought we wouldn't need for the movie because the movie allows you to explore characters in an easy way. We wouldn't need "Dog Eats Dog" because you get to know Thénardier much more from other shots in the film. You understood that side of his character, from the scene in the streets where they're getting money from Jean Valjean. That takes more screentime than it does in the show.
How have the success and failures of past musical adaptations influenced Les Misérables?
Mackintosh: I had nothing to do with the film adaptation of Phantom of the Opera, but to be honest, I would have wanted to do the film differently. This new version of Phantom of the Opera which we've done — I'm proud of the original production — but the new version is dangerous and gritty. It combines the world of upstage and the lair below. You see two different worlds. That would have been my approach to the film.
Are there any stories you want to tell exclusively in film?
Mackintosh:I would only have something to offer in helping my successful stage shows and giving them a cinematic life. I enjoy the adaptation when it's classic material.
I'm surprised more of them haven't happened. I look at Miss Saigon and think, 'this is a movie waiting to happen.'
Mackintosh: I think it is a movie waiting to happen. The thing is, as you know, it takes someone making a s**tload of money before they start making things. The fact that Les Misérables has made a great deal of money is going to encourage someone to do Miss Saigon. I do think the device of the show is inherently cinematic. It's already, with the dreams, allows you to do anything. In your head. Which is the thing that made Chicago work.
The thing that Les Misérables has proved, and the thing I'm glad Tom and I saw eye to eye about is recording it live. You needed to because it's completely acted. You only need to record some of Miss Saigon live, because it would be a visceral drama. The storytelling part of it. Other parts of it you can do in a more traditional way because it's about show business.
There had been rumors of a new Little Shop of Horrors. As someone who has been involved with that show in the past....
Mackintosh: I loved doing the original show with Howard Ashman, but David Geffen did the movie. It's certainly not a movie I would feel I've got anything to offer to. Or would I have time to do it. As you say, I've got things like Saigon, possibly Oliver! or My Fair Lady are more obvious for me to get involved with as movies.
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In theater, revivals are commonplace. In movies, people cry afoul when a remake is announced. Will there be room for a Les Misérables remake in the future thinking along the lines of how theater functions or is this the definitive version?
Mackintosh: Well, when they come around to doing it I'll be dead [laughs], so it probably won't be my question to answer. But if I found the right cast would I do My Fair Lady now? Yes I would. Because as much as I thought the original film had some amazing performances in it. I remember thinking as an arrogant producer — I was in school when it first came out — but I remember being struck that it was a rather stage-y film. I felt it was like huge theatrical sets. I think you could do a much more modern, fluid film.
It could feel like a real place.
Mackintosh: Yes. I think that's one of the strengths of Les Misérables. You feel like you've been taken to a world.
Is My Fair Lady a movie that you're actively developing?
Mackintosh: Because I staged the two major revivals in the last 20 years. My heart is very close to My Fair Lady. But there were various rights problems which are being finely sorted out as to when it can be made and remade. In the old days, you only made one movie! It's only in recent days that the word "remake" has had any significant effect. In the time these musicals were sold to Hollywood, people didn't have any interest in the theatrical world. They didn't think there was enough money in it. Now it's the opposite. All the film companies want to get into the theater world. Probably because Andrew [Lloyd Webber] and I have made so much money in it!
These days, every movie is being turned into a musical, for better or worse.
Mackintosh:Yes, for better or worse. You know, the real question — and it's always a difficult one — is, is there any reason for a particular subject to sing. Do you gain anything form them singing? For most stories, they don't gain. But when you get it right, it's marvelous.
With My Fair Lady, which is based more on Gabrielle Pascal's film, which was involved as co-screenwriter. The musical is based on the film rather than the original Pygmalion play. Just like Oliver!, another show I'm closely involved in and own part of the rights, that's based on the David Lean movie rather than the Dickens novel.
Films have always been a source for material, because you have to adapt a book to a movie. So that step of adaptation is always helpful. It was actually a musical that inspired Les Misérables. Alain Boublil had never seen a stage version of Oliver!, he had only seen the movie. As he watched this revival of Oliver!, in January of 1978, as the Artful Dodger is singing "Consider Yourself," suddenly in his mind popped Gavroche. By the end of the show, he thought, '[Les Misérables] could be a wonderful musical.' So he rang Tod Michelle in Paris and said, 'I found our next subject.'
Follow Matt Patches on Twitter @misterpatches
[Photo Credit: Universal Pictures]
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As the end of January approaches, that New Year’s resolution you were so adamant about just a few weeks earlier is already starting to fall by the wayside. Suddenly, the gym seems farther away, cigarettes call your name, and you haven’t even taken the cellophane off that scrapbook you bought. While we can’t do much to help you with those fading pledges, there is one resolution to which we can assist you in remaining faithful.
If you made it your charge to watch a more diverse assortment of films in 2013, in essence to become a more well-rounded cinephile, we're here to keep you on track. Here is our comprehensive guide to help you begin to branch out:
Action
Bronson vs. Marvin
The '70s were a great time for action films, and the two biggest names of the era were Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. Here’s a sampling of their best.
The Mechanic: Bronson takes a young Jan-Michael Vincent under his wing; showing him the ropes of contract killing. The complex relationship between the two characters, the slow, methodic storytelling, and the dramatic ending make this one of ol’ Charlie’s finest.
Point Blank:Lee Marvin inhabits Donald E. Westlake’s Parker in this gripping, deliberate crime thriller from John Boorman. Why anyone would want to mess with a guy like Lee Marvin is beyond the limits of reason.
Death Hunt: Can’t decide which actor to watch first? Why not watch them both in this early '80s wilderness actioner. Violent, well-constructed, and featuring one of the decade’s most interesting games of cat-and-mouse.
Asian Fists and Firearms
Whether it’s martial arts or automatic weapons, the action cinema of the East tends to be more brutal and bombastic than Hollywood fare. If you liked The Raid: Redemption, do yourself a favor and track down…
Tiger Cage: Legendary fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping expertly directs this unsung cops vs. criminals actioner. The opening sequence, an unfettered gauntlet of carnage, alone is well worth the price of admission; an unfettered gauntlet of carnage.
Ip Man: Donnie Yen brings to life one of China’s most beloved historical figures, and does so with some of the fastest and most impressive kung fu in recent memory.
Hard Boiled: John Woo earned his reputation working in Hong Kong, and Hard Boiled may be his masterpiece. Chow Yun-fat eloquently dances through Woo’s gorgeous bullet ballet.
Contemporary Foreign Action
Sleepless Night: France may not be the first country one associates with action cinema, but they’ve made huge strides in recent years. Sleepless Night is a single-night nonstop crime story that rages through a nightclub like a force of nature. The cinematography, pacing, and exceptional performances create an organic sense of tension.
Man From Nowhere: Nobody, but nobody, does revenge movies like Korea. The Man from Nowehere is a savage, uncompromising descent into the darkest recesses of the soul of someone we still, despite everything, herald as a hero.
Solomon Kane: It took a French/British/Czech co-production to finally bring Robert E. Howard’s puritanical superhero to the big screen, but it was worth the wait. Solomon Kane combines horror, fantasy, and superhero conventions to create a truly unique filmic experience. James Purefory broodingly and perfectly inhabits the titular antihero.
Offbeat Westerns
These aren’t your granddad’s horse operas.
Dudes: A cross-country road trip turns tragic for a trio of rockers in this outstanding '80s gem from Penelope Spheeris. She uses punk rock to breathe new life into an age-old genre. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea has a prominent role in the film.
Sukiyaki Western Django: A wild mashup of Yojimbo and Sergio Corbucci’s Django, Sukiyaki Western Django is somehow still unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Comin’ At Ya!: Of this group, Comin’ At Ya! most closely resembles a traditional spaghetti western, but the filmmakers behind it were keen to bring back the then-languishing 3D technology. If you thought the recent spate of 3D films in theaters were gimmicky, just wait until you see the prolific and hilarious instances in which Comin’ At Ya! finds ways to, well, make things come at ya.
Film Noir
The Long Goodbye: Possibly the best film on this entire list. Elliot Gould, as Philip Marlowe, wafts through a seedy, almost dream-like Los Angeles. Gould’s effortlessly charming performance is enhanced by Robert Altman’s superb direction and a marvelous, if slightly unusual John Williams score. An absolutely masterful film that, incidentally, makes a great double feature with The Big Lebowski.
Elevator to the Gallows: Film noir is sprinkled with traces of Hitchcock in Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows. A fledgling criminal murders his boss while their office building is empty, but his escape is hindered by a busted elevator. Tense, engaging, and given a pulse by a smoky cool Miles Davis score.
The Killing: An early Stanley Kubrick film hits upon the director’s substantial talent for storytelling. A flawless racetrack heist gives way to squabbling and conniving between a team of crooks. Its great cast anchored by Sterling Hayden, The Killing is gorgeously shot and harrowing to the last frame.
Buddy Cop Movies
Freebie and the Bean: It’s hard to do buddy cop films better than Freebie and the Bean. James Caan and Alan Arkin set the standard for unlikely law enforcement duos, constantly at each other’s throats as they do all in their power to get the better of crooks and thugs. Their banter is among the film’s greatest strengths.
Nighthawks: Sylvester Stallone doesn’t get a lot of credit as an actor, and maybe rightfully so, but in 1981’s Nighthawks, he and Billy Dee Williams are a formidable team. The perpetually fuming pair take on an international terrorist played to icy perfection by Rutger Hauer.
Busting: Elliot Gould returns to the list, this time working alongside Robert Blake to bring down a crime boss in Peter Hyams’ Busting. These two are laughably bad at their jobs at the onset, and that is meant as a compliment, but their ability to get serious when it really counts gives the movie a great deal of charm.
Next:

The 68-year-old Brit, who also directed musicals Fame and Evita, will receive the Academy's highest honour in recognition of his long-running Hollywood career, following in the footsteps of previous honourees including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.
However, Parker insists the lifetime achievement award will not spell the end of his glittering career.
He says, "I'm honoured by the award, flattered, really. A lot of people deserve it more than I do. I know filmmakers who have refused these sort of things, thinking it means they're never going to work again. But in the end, you get to a certain age, you've made a number of films, and your time comes along."
Other previous recipients of the prize include Charlie Chaplin, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Dame Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Sir Christopher Lee.
Parker will pick up the trophy at the BAFTA film awards at London's Royal Opera House on 10 February (13).

In our quest to bring you the best TV content, sometimes we have to look... backwards. That's why we have Thursday TV Throwback, wherein each week our staff of pop culture enthusiasts will be tasked with bringing back some of the best television clips that have been forgotten by time, space and the general zeitgeist. This week, it's time for our first annual Oscar Edition — where we take on the task of locating the humble, small screen beginnings of Oscar nominees.
Quentin Tarantino, Best Writing, Original Screenplay: Golden Girls
Before Tarantino made film history with Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and the like, he made an appearance as an Elvis impersonator on Golden Girls. Check out 04:38 and 05:23 for proof:
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Christoph Waltz, Best Supporting Actor, Parole Chicago
This is probably our favorite. Christopher Waltz starred in a German TV series called Parole Chicago back in 1979. It took place in 1920's Berlin, with Waltz starring as a stupid criminal. Below, he demonstrates the stupid as he tries to catch a cat, for some reason:
Naomi Watts, Best Actress: Hey Dad...!
Watts played Simon's girlfriend Belinda on a few episodes of the Australian sitcom Hey Dad...! back in '90:
Ben Affleck, Snubbed director of Argo: Voyage of the Mimi
This is one for the ages. Little Affleck starred as Clement Tyler (C.T.) Granville on Voyage of the Mimi, an educational series filmed on the high seas. So before he schooled us on the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, Affleck taught us all about humpback whales. Here he is, in the Arctic test chamber for the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine. He was a bit worried when he learned about filming in the Arctic wind tunnel, but luckily his bowl cut kept his ears warm:
Tommy Lee Jones, Best Supporting Actor: Charlie's Angels
Youthful Tommy Lee Jones was quite the looker! He appeared in the pilot of the hit series as Aram, a man who becomes entwined with an undercover Sabrina (Kate Jackson). Check out the sideburns:
Anne Hathaway, Best Supporting Actress: Get Real
Before she hit the big screen and never looked back with The Princess Diaries, Hathaway starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg in the short-lived Fox drama-comedy Get Real. Here are her feet:
Helen Hunt, Best Supporting Actress: Desperate Lives (PCP Commercial)
This one is a classic — Hunt later mocked it herself on Saturday Night Live — but the list wouldn't be complete without the 1982 video of Hunt flipping out on crank. Enjoy:
Jennifer Lawrence, Best Actress: Monk
Just when you thought Jennifer Lawrence couldn't get any more badass — you find out she took on the scene-stealing role of "Mascot" on an episode of Monk back in 2006. Her dedication to the role is very apparent when she bites him in the arm:
Bradley Cooper, Best Actor: Alias
Cooper starred as Will Tippin, Sydney Bristow's (Jennifer Garner) overlooked, nerdy best friend on Alias from 2001-2003. He was more than a little surprised when he found out she was a spy:
Additionally, Cooper appeared as a love interest for Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) on Sex and the City in 2009:
Hugh Jackman, Best Actor: Correlli
Jackman met his future wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, on the set of a short-lived Australian series called Correlli. The following footage depicts Jean Valjean's first days as an inmate:
Joaquin Phoenix, Best Actor: ABC Afterschool Specials — Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia
Both Phoenix brothers — nominee Joaquin, and the late River — appeared in this 1984 after-school special. Behold its greatness:
Alan Arkin, Best Supporting Actor: Sesame Street
Anyone remember Larry? Hopefully this will jog your memory:
Follow Shaunna on Twitter @HWShaunna
[PHOTO CREDIT: PBS]
MORE:
2013 Oscar Nominations: See the Full List of Nominees Here!
Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck Lead This Year's Oscar Snubs. Who Else Was Ignored?
Hugh Jackman, Steven Spielberg, Naomi Watts &amp; More React to Their Oscar Nominations
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Title

Became head of the Film Council, which oversees funding allotted to the British Film Commission, the Arts Council's Film Lottery panel, the British Film Institute and British Screen Finance

Directed nearly 500 TV commercials in London

Appointed as chair of the British Film Institute (BFI)

TV-movie directing debut, "The Evacuees" (BBC-produced)

Published novel, "Puddles in the Lane"

Published collection of cartoons, "Hares in the Gate"

Feature film directing debut (also writer), "Bugsy Malone"

After working at various agencies and progressing to writing copy, landed at Collet, Dickinson and Pearce; while there met David Puttnam and Alan Marshall; also worked with Ridley Scott and Adrian Lyne

After graduating from high school, joined advertising agency as an office boy at age 19 (date approximate)

At urging of Puttnam, went to work on first feature film script; eventually made as "Melody" (1972), Puttnam's producing debut

First US-produced feature, "Fame"

Formed own production company, The Alan Parker Film Company, with Alan Marshall

Helmed the civil rights drama "Mississippi Burning"; film received seven Academy Award nominations including one for Parker's direction

Expanded the themes of the bestselling rock concept album in the film version of "Pink Floyd--The Wall"; employed innovative animation techniques

Signed first-look producing deal with PolyGram (May)

Personally challenged the ratings board of the MPAA for their "X" rating of "Angel Heart"

Returned to movie musical format with "The Commitments", an upbeat story of poor North Dublin kids who form a band to play American soul music

First worked as office boy for HOSPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

Medium-length film writing and directing debut, "No Hard Feelings" (50 mins); independently produced (Parker invested his own 30,000 pounds), it was subsequently bought by the BBC, and aired in 1976

Directed the international hit "Midnight Express"; won Oscar nomination as Best Director

Scored big at Cannes Film Festival with "Birdy"

Television commercial directing debut

Film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Evita" opened to mixed reviews

Wrote, produced and directed "The Road to Wellville", a sendup of health fadist John Kellogg

Summary

From his humble beginnings as an office boy at age 19, Alan Parker worked his way up in the advertising business and began his career in earnest when he and partner Alan Marshall founded a production company to make industrial films and commercials. Between 1969 and 1978, Parker churned out over 500 television commercials, winning every major industry award, while also being cited as an important influence on both fashion and film style of that time. He adeptly used lighting, and his sense of drama as a feature film director has seemed to come as much from his early need to convey a message in 30 seconds as from a sense of pictorial grace.<p>In 1973, Parker wrote and directed a 50-minute film, "No Hard Feelings", which the BBC bought and eventually aired several years later. "The Evacuees" (1975), his first film produced for the BBC, brought attention from the theatrical marketplace. The following year, he and producer David Puttnam collaborated on Parker's debut as a writer-director, "Bugsy Malone", a musical spoof of gangster films with an all-children cast. His second feature, the powerful "Midnight Express" (1978) was based on the true story of an American arrested in Turkey for drug smuggling and earned six Oscar nominations, including one for Parker. (It won for the awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Score.)<p>Parker followed the popular and stylish musical "Fame" (1980), his first US-produced feature, with arguably his most personal film "Shoot the Moon" (1981), a sensitively detailed examination of the disintegration of a marriage. The quirky, touching "Birdy" (1984) and the controversial "Angel Heart" (1987) solidified his reputation as a highly visual storyteller whose palette made use of the soundtrack as well as strong imagery. "Mississippi Burning" (1988), a glossy recreation of a famous civil rights murder case was praised for its fine performances (particularly by Gene Hackman as a veteran FBI man), but drew fire for its glib reworking of history. Plunging into farce, Parker directed Anthony Hopkins in "The Road To Wellville" (1994), a send-up of American health fadist John Kellogg. Parker also produced and wrote the screenplay based on T. Coraghessan Boyle's novel, but the colorful casting and spectacular cinematography was pretty much wasted on this uneven romp.<p>Among his contemporaries, Parker is the only director courageous enough to return again and again to the movie musical. Of course, good reviews build confidence, and critics have been generous with their praise of his efforts. The charming idea of casting kids in a gangster movie struck a responsive chord in most and "Bugsy Malone" also profited from an astonishingly assured performance from a 13-year-old Jodie Foster. His insights into talented young people and his ability to tell their stories in dozens of vignettes as opposed to a conventional linear plot helped insure the success of "Fame", and in "Pink Floyd--The Wall" (1982), he transformed a best-selling rock album into one of the great modern musicals. Visually stunning in its wide array of images that included animated sequences by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, this movie appealed to a much wider audience than just rock 'n' roll fans. "The Commitments" (1991) for all its high energy and great soul music fell a bit short of the mark established by his other musicals, and though his "Evita" (1996) was epic, lavish and fascinating, the MTV-style editing diluted the inherent power of the material and worked against the integrity of Madonna's titular performance.<p>Always fiercely independent, Parker has often lambasted the British film establishment and film critics. No stranger to controversy, he took on the ratings board of the MPAA and personally challenged their "X" rating of "Angel Heart". Parker has also authored a compilation of satirical cartoons, "Hares in the Gate" (1982), and in 1984 produced "A Turnip Head's Guide to British Cinema", a sarcastic documentary which ridiculed the critical mentality, a film that delighted his filmmaking contemporaries as well as his four children, whom he has cited as his chief inspiration.

Name

Role

Comments

Elsie Ellen Parker

Mother

Lucy Kate Parker

Daughter

Annie Inglis

Wife

Married July 30, 1966; Granted uncontested divorce Jan. 6, 1992 on the grounds of Parker's adultery

composed the score for his father's film, "The Life of David Gale" (2003)

William Parker

Father

worked in the transport departmant of London Times

Education

Name

Owen's School

Notes

Awarded knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year's Eve honors 2001.

"... film is a collaborative art form, I quite like working with a lot of people as long as there is one singular vision. In that respect, you have to be quite tough, egocentric about it. I wanted to be a writer. I never ever wanted to be a director when I started. To me, writing was the most important thing and that is a very singular occupation ... I suppose the beauty of film is that you do get to reach a very wide audience. The language of film is pretty universal ... It's quite exciting for me to know that's how I can communicate to people." --Alan Parker, quoted in Location Update, 1988.

"I'd direct another musical, though maybe not immediately. But you know, no one's ever been able to persuade Andrew [Lloyd Webber] to do an original score for a musical film. Now that I have an in, maybe he'll do it for me one day." --Alan Parker quoted in Los Angeles Times, December 24, 1996.